Waiting
by NeonDreams
Summary: The Oracle Prophecies Trilogy. Oneshot. Sethany. Addressing what Chryse pointed out: Mirany and Seth HAVE never kissed. Rated T for limited cursing.


**A.N.** My first OP fanfiction! I'm not sure if I'm going to write much more for this fandom, but it all depends on what I'm inspired to write about.

Thanks to all who read and review; I love feedback. And an extra thank you to my fellow OP fans on deviantART who commented and encouraged me to write some Sethany.

* * *

He scared her when he got like this.

Regardless of his line of work, Seth was strong. He'd survived the desert, fought countless men, battled his way past beasts she could scarcely imagine and prevailed.

Seth's most intense anger was one first of silence, the quiet before a storm. Now he leveled her apprehensive stare with a chilled one of his own. She opened her mouth to say something—what, she didn't know—but he turned his back to her and she couldn't force the sounds to come. He drew a rickety old stool across the floor, every simple movement sharper than the knife Mirany knew he kept hidden in the folds of his tunic.

A minute passed, so empty that she felt like screaming just to fill the void, before he burst. Mirany flinched as the stool collided with another scribe's workstation.

"Seth…" she breathed, tightening her hold on the hem of her dress.

"Damn it, Mirany!" He whirled to face her, staring her straight in the eye. "What's wrong with you?"

Again she began to speak, thought better of it, and instead let his words roll over her in waves. What was wrong with her? In any form of normalcy, they would have engaged fully and equally. Stubborn and proud as Seth could be, it seemed to pump her ego as well when they disagreed. Now she stood quiet, worthless, like one of the poor girls in the Palace of Delights.

"Nothing's changed! Why does it seem like…?" Seth continued. "God, I'm so stupid!"

He hid his head in his hands as Mirany stepped forward ever so slightly, peeking up at him from beneath the fringe of her bangs. She moved closer to him and slowly pulled his hands away, carefully avoiding his eyes as she smoothed his hair back (it looked better without all that oil, she thought) and only then met his eyes. She could feel her heart jumping as he leaned in, and found that she couldn't control her limbs at all until suddenly; finally, the distance was gone.

She had never kissed anyone before. No one would know it, though. Seth surely didn't seem to. They both grappled for control, but he cheated. She nearly fell when he pulled her closer. He smirked into the kiss and the fight was on again.

She'd never thought about some things, though—like what the backdrop would be; certainly not the deepest catacombs of the Tombs. And she hadn't ever taken the time to imagine what he would smell like. She couldn't place it. It wasn't the perfumes and oils they sold in the market.

When they broke apart she leaned against him, lulled into something very near sleep as he stroked her hair. He seemed almost as dreamy, murmuring things that didn't make sense until she remembered what Oblek had told her about the hallucinations in the desert.

"Mirany, is the Rain Queen going to strike me down? You're the Speaker…You're off-limits. The scrolls suggest some fairly cruel punishment…"

Somehow his impeccable survival instinct seemed to kick in. Seth lifted her chin. "You know we can't stay," he said. When she raised her eyebrows in surprise he hastily corrected himself. "No, not that. The Gates will be closing soon, and you're supposed to be on the Island." She nodded and tried to retain some sense of elegance during her exit. Unfortunately, her attempts were rendered useless by even the weakest rays of sunlight. She saw spots before her eyes.

As they approached the Gates, something occurred to her.

"Seth," she said, "how long have you been waiting?"

He stopped and stared at her for a moment, then moved on.

"Since they sealed you in the tomb," he said after they passed the guards. "That's how long."

Mirany could only nod in response.

As the sun set low and red over the Two Lands, she couldn't help but think that it had been waiting, too.

* * *

**A.N. **Thank you for taking time to read this. If you liked it, please review!


End file.
